UN human rights experts reported in June 2024 that gang violence had displaced a record 578,074 people in Haiti — making Haiti the country with the highest internal displacement globally due to crime-related violence, a designation that placed it ahead of active war zones in terms of the proportion of its population forced from their homes by criminal rather than military violence.
Among those displaced were over 310,000 women and girls and 180,000 children, who faced specific protection risks in displacement sites where sexual violence was prevalent and where unaccompanied children were particularly vulnerable to exploitation, abuse, and gang recruitment. The scale of displacement involving women and children reflected the systematic targeting of women and girls by gang networks as a tool of territorial control.
Displacement sites across Port-au-Prince were severely overcrowded, with multiple families sharing minimal space in converted schools, churches, public buildings, and open areas without adequate food, water, or sanitation. Conditions that exceeded what basic dignity required were the norm rather than the exception. The psychological toll of prolonged displacement, including the trauma of violence experienced before fleeing and the stress of insecure living conditions, was severe and largely unaddressed.
The humanitarian response to the displacement crisis was significantly underfunded relative to need. International donors had committed only a fraction of the resources required for the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan, leaving organizations forced to make difficult choices about which displaced communities to prioritize. The gap between documented need and available resources reflected the inadequacy of international commitment to a crisis that had been building for years.